Twenty years after her husband disappears in combat, Madalena is married again but fears the return of her first husband, as this would annul her marriage, his happiness and turn her daughter into a bastard. A classic of Portuguese cinema.

The tragedy of a woman who - after seven years of vain searches - gave up hope of finding her husband, a knight lost in battle in Marroc with Sebastião, king of Portugal. She marries, has a daughter by her second husband, and endures the silent reproach of an aid, Telmo Pais, the only who kept his hope that his master shall return, as well as the king... One day, a mysterious pilgrim arrives at the mansion.—Artemis-9